The Los Angeles Knight Riders are an American professional

Twenty20 cricket Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

team based in the

Greater Los Angeles Greater Los Angeles is the most populous metropolitan area in the U.S. state of California, encompassing five counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the eas ...

area that competes in

Major League Cricket Major League Cricket (MLC) is a professional Twenty20 (T20) cricket league in the United States organized by American Cricket Enterprises (ACE) and sanctioned by USA Cricket. Founded in 2023, the league operates as a single entity consisting of ...

(MLC). The team's planned home ground is in Great Park in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

. The franchise is owned by the Knight Riders Group, a sporting subsidiary alliance between

Red Chillies Entertainment Red Chillies Entertainments Private Limited, doing business as Red Chillies Entertainment; abbreviated as RCE is an Indian entertainment company established by actor Shah Rukh Khan and his wife Gauri Khan in 2002. It was transformed from the d ...

and the

Mehta Group The Mehta Group of Companies, commonly referred to as the Mehta Group, is an Indian conglomerate based in Mumbai and headquartered in Gandhinagar, with subsidiaries in the United States, Canada, Kenya and Uganda. The group employs in excess of ...

. The Knight Riders' minor league affiliate—the Los Angeles Lashings compete in

Minor League Cricket Minor League Cricket (MiLC) is a professional Twenty20, Twenty20 cricket league in the United States that serves as the Minor league, developmental league for Major League Cricket (MLC). The league comprises 26 teams, divided between the Atlanti ...

History

Background

In December 2020, it was announced by Major League Cricket that the Knight Riders Group had bought a stake in their league, and as a result, was given ownership rights to the LA Knight Riders. Plans for the team were reaffirmed in April 2021 with

CEO A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a chief executive or managing director, is the top-ranking corporate officer charged with the management of an organization, usually a company or a nonprofit organization. CEOs find roles in variou ...

Venky Mysore stating that the team would even have their own stadium. More plans on this stadium would be revealed nearly a year later in April 2022, with plans for a 10,000-seat cricket stadium costing $30 million. In July 2022, Mysore reaffirmed once again his intent of starting a brand in L.A. stating that, "we he Knight Riders Groupalso made a big investment in... MLC where we were involved from the inception of the idea. We'll be setting up heLA Knight Riders and we're also building a stadium

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..". In November later that year, the 2023 season of MLC was officially announced. Shortly thereafter, in March 2023, more information about the LA Knight Riders was revealed, including the unveiling of its team logo.

2023 season

Prior to the launch of the official season, it was announced the MLC's inaugural domestic draft would take place on March 19, 2023. The Knight Riders had the final pick of the draft and selected the

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' Ali Khan as their first draft pick. Over the course of the draft, the Knight Riders selected various players including the likes of Unmukt Chand, Corné Dry, and Saif Badar. The Knight Riders announced their full squad on June 13, with

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

Jason Roy Jason Jonathan Roy (born 21 July 1990) is an English cricketer who played for England in One Day International (ODI) and Twenty20 International (T20I) cricket, and previously played for the Test team. In domestic cricket, he represents Surrey, ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

's Adam Zampa,

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

Sunil Narine Sunil Philip Narine (born 26 May 1988) is a Trinidadian cricket player who played internationally for the West Indies. He made his One Day International (ODI) debut in December 2011 and Test match debut in June 2012. Primarily an off-spin bow ...

and

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's Lockie Ferguson all in the mix. Mysore, upon the squad's unveiling, stated that, "we have assembled a strong and talented team for the debut season of MLC, who can compete at the highest level and bring joy to cricket fans around the world". On July 10, team management announced that Narine would lead the team as the captain and that

Phil Simmons Philip Verant Simmons (born 18 April 1963) is a Trinidadian cricket coach and former player who is currently a coach of the Bangladesh national cricket team. He played international cricket for the West Indies from 1987 to 1999 as an openin ...

would be the team's head coach. Alongside Simmons, Bharat Arun and

Ryan ten Doeschate Ryan Neil ten Doeschate (; born 30 June 1980) is a Dutch cricket coach and former cricketer. He is currently one of the assistant coaches of Indian men’s cricket team. Born in South Africa, he played for the Netherlands national cricket team ...

were subsequently announced as the team's bowling and batting coaches, respectively.

2024 season

Ahead of the 2024 season opener on July 5, the Knight Riders retained a vast majority of their squad, including Roy, Narine, and Chand. The team would also sign various overseas and domestic players, consisting of the likes of Bangladeshi

Shakib al Hasan Shakib Al Hasan (; born 24 March 1987) is a former Bangladeshi international cricketer who played Test cricket, Test, One Day International, ODI and Twenty20 International, T20I cricket for the Bangladesh national cricket team, Bangladeshi cr ...

and local boy Matthew Tromp.

Current squad

* Players with international caps are listed in bold. * Direct signings are players that have been bought by the team for undisclosed prices overseas.

Administration and support staff

Performance

Standings

Team statistics

Season summary

References

{{Authority control Cricket teams in Los Angeles Red Chillies Entertainment Major League Cricket teams 2020 establishments in California